Luke Humphries overcomes Nathan Aspinall in drama-packed World Grand Prix opening evening
Luke Humphries started his World Grand Prix campaign with victory over Nathan Aspinall.
The main event of the opening night in Leicester saw Humphries overcome an incredibly tough draw against Aspinall, who has tumbled down the rankings since his first round World Matchplay exit in July.
Now the world No.23, Aspinall was drawn as an unranked player, and of course, it was the world No.1 he faced, the same man who beat him in the semi-final of the Premier League in May at The O2.
After Humphries eased into the lead, with Aspinall taking seven darts to hit an opening double to get off the mark. The Asp got his first leg on the board with his third dart in the dead centre of the bullseye to reel in the big fish, seeing the Stockport star’s face light up.
Despite Aspinall missing double six for a 132 checkout, eventually checking out on the next visit, every leg went with the throw in the first set, giving Humphries an early advantage.
(Image: PA)
Humphries returned from the break to raise the roof with a 156 out to break Aspinall, both on the scoreboard, but seemingly at the oche as ‘Cool Hand’ punished Aspinall’s careless darts to take a 2-0 lead of the set. The game was soon wrapped up minutes later as Humphries ran away in the second set to cruise to a 2-0 win.
Elsewhere, Rob Cross opened up the night and the tournament with a nail-biting final leg deciding victory over Wessel Nijman, with the 2018 world champ surviving a missed dart for the match at the bull.
The world No.9 failed to hit a 180 during the entirety of the game and he averaged just 81.73. However, Nijman was nervy on his debut in the tournament and he hit just 30.43 per cent on the outer ring (7/23), while Cross’ experience made the difference, hitting 53.33 per cent of his doubles (8/15).
Later, Cameron Menzies banished any memories of his debut World Grand Prix last year, where he was whitewashed by Dave Chisnall, by beating Chris Dobey 2-0. As Wayne Mardle put it, with “Zero faffage.”
The Scot eased into the lead by winning all three legs in the opening set before he held off Dobey’s comeback in the second set, holding his nerve in one of the biggest wins of his career to date.
Joe Cullen ended the hopes of James Wade with a surprise 2-0 win over the world No.5, who had been heavily fancied to go far at Leicester. ‘The Rockstar’ didn’t drop a leg in the first set before coming back from 2-0 down in the second set to advance.
In the all-Dutch battle between Danny Noppert and Jermaine Wattimena, the world No.24 took the lead against the former UK Open winner in a classic on the Leicester stage.
Noppert fought back to level the game at 1-1 and went on to win the match in incredible style, checking out 158 to seal a remarkable comeback as Wattimena led 2-0 in the deciding set. ‘The Freeze’, so usually cool, let out his emotions at the end of a proper tungsten tussle.
Meanwhile, Krzysztof Ratajski cruised to a 2-0 victory over German Martin Schindler, dropping just one leg in the game.
Still to come on Monday, sees Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld looking to roll back the years as the two former world champions take on each other.
Stephen Bunting concludes the night when he plays the Hungarian Darts Trophy winner Niko Springer.
World Grand Prix Monday results:
Rob Cross 2-1 Wessel Nijman
Martin Schindler 0-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Chris Dobey 0-2 Cameron Menzies
James Wade 0–2 Joe Cullen
Danny Noppert 1–2 Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Humphries 2–0 Nathan Aspinall
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
Stephen Bunting v Niko Springer
More to follow…
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